June 15, 2026

Coastal Flood Resilience News

Twice a month, CFRP recaps the latest science, federal policy, and state and local news related to coastal flood resilience and sea level rise. Prior issues can be viewed on our website.

Science

Coastal Flooding More Common Due to Rising Seas

An article in the Washington Post describes two new studies finding that “extreme floods that once swamped coastal communities only rarely are becoming far more common as climate change caused by humans pushes sea levels higher.” Ben Strauss, Chief Scientist at Climate Central is quoted:

Essentially every coastal flood today has human fingerprints on it through climate change. Without the extra bit of sea level rise caused by global heating, most of these events would not have reached the status of flood.

The study in Science Advances reports:

Results show that human-caused sea level rise is quantifiable at 97% of 519 tide gauge sites and is responsible for 58% (44 to 65%) of the observed daily extreme water level exceedances over 2000–2018. On average, human-caused sea level rise has caused a near-tripling in the number of days with attributable exceedances since the 1970s.

The study in Nature concludes:

Globally, the median frequency of an historical 1-in-100-year extreme sea-level event has increased ~12-fold, with human-driven radiative forcing alone quadrupling the likelihood of such events. Natural variability still modulates regional patterns but has become secondary along most coastlines.

United Nations Calls for Expansion of Nature-Based Solutions to Coastal Flooding

The United Nations issued the Third World Ocean Assessment, including a call to "expand and accelerate" nature-based solutions in coastal management and to address research needs:

Despite the growing body of knowledge on nature-based solutions, gaps remain. For instance, measures to quantify the effectiveness of natural and nature-based features at mitigating coastal hazards and adapting to climate impacts are still lacking. Owing to the site-specific nature, decision makers often lack information on assessing their suitability in different environments. Research on natural and nature-based features suitability and monitoring is yet to be institutionalized into policy, regulations and decision-making.

Coastal Salt Marsh Models Need Improvement

This article in ECO describes how new research found that marsh models support coastal decision-making while pointing to areas needing improvement:

The study highlights that while current models are powerful, practitioners still face “scale mismatches” between model outputs and decision-making needs. Many decision makers require high-resolution, parcel-scale data for local planning and more accessible descriptions of uncertainty to inform decision-making.

Loss of Upstream Wetlands Threatens Coastal Wetlands

The Post and Courier reported on recent research finding that “the destruction of upstream wetlands since the 1980s has significantly driven up flood insurance payments for South Carolina homeowners along the coast.” The study in the journal Nature Water estimates that “wetland loss since 1985 has increased flood insurance claims by a total of US$10.1 billion or 9.0%.”

National Policy

Support for Ocean Observing System

The New York Times reports that Democrats plan to fight an effort by the Trump administration to dismantle key parts of an ocean observing system critical to understanding climate change established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Lawmakers accused the administration of wasting tax dollars in its bid to cripple climate science, which President Trump has derided. They said eliminating the observation system would harm coastal communities that benefit from scientists who use the data to study coastal currents that influence the weather and commercial fisheries along the East Coast.

This video clip from the PBS Newshour describes the impacts of the loss of the observing system, including the observation that the administration statement explains that the action is "incredibly difficult to parse" and quotes a researcher as saying that cutting the research is "an intentional choice to embrace ignorance".

Climate Change Drives Insurance Costs and Poses Risk to U.S. Economy

A new report from the Coalition for an Insurable Future has found dramatic increases in home insurance driven by climate change, expecting the trend to continue through 2035 with increases of up to 200 percent in southeastern states. This could lead to a financial crisis, which “would reduce US GDP growth by 2.6 percentage points, plunging the US economy into a recession.” The state-level response to rising prices has had mixed results:

A preliminary assessment of insurance regulations, adaptation packages, and climate policies across Louisiana, California, Florida, New York, and Colorado finds varied levels of effectiveness. The burden of policy costs falls primarily on homeowners, taxpayers and insurers, rather than on the sources of the climate risk driving the crisis.

Judge Protects National Center for Atmospheric Research

Politico reports that a federal judge has acted to prevent the Trump administration from shutting down the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado. Despite the reprieve, the article notes that “the damage may already be done. Staff are fleeing, equipment has been offered for sale and multiple critical projects are paused, possibly never to be started again.”

State and Local

North Carolina Considers New Authority for Seawalls

In the Raleigh News and Observer, the Director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation describes proposals to weaken the established limits on coastal armoring structures along the coast of North Carolina and argues for a more balanced approach:

That is why lawmakers should proceed cautiously before changing how North Carolina manages beach erosion. Three bills before the General Assembly — SB 1001, SB 1008, and SB 1009 — would make it easier to build hardened shoreline structures such as groins, seawalls, revetments, and breakwaters. One proposal would also authorize state taxpayer funding for permitting, construction, and repairs.

Florida's Biscayne Bay Threatened by Rising Seas

Inside Climate News reports that the Biscayne Bay estuary is gradually becoming open ocean as sea level rises, with impacts on marine life and drinking water supplies. “What the eye misses, the data captures: a bay sliding steadily from an estuary to something closer to the open ocean, a transition the study's authors say sea-level rise has made effectively irreversible.”

Florida Coastal Communities Unraveling as Climate Change Drives Insurance Cost Increases

This article in The Conversation describes how Florida coastal communities are splintering as rising costs of insurance drive lower income people away:

On this street, I saw a community slowly unraveling as climate shocks – and the subsequent market responses to them – have reshaped the cost of living. These costs are driven by more than major disasters. Soaring property insurance rates are repricing life in the Sunshine State, and this is likely to worsen as hurricanes intensify in the coming years.

The author argues for new policies that build on a community scale response to climate risks: “Public institutions like the housing resilience agencies proposed by the Climate and Community Institute could help connect insurance and adaptation in new ways.”

California's Pacifica Pier at Risk of Rising Seas

The Los Angeles Times reports that over 10 public piers along the California coast were closed in 2024 due to damages from storms and rising seas, including a pier in Pacifica:

The Pacifica Municipal Pier was shut down and taped off Thursday after city workers noticed cracks running through the landmark structure and concrete chunks falling into the ocean. It's just one of many coastal California structures that have recently crumbled under pressure from a rising and relentless ocean.

South Carolina Gullah Geechee People

This video shows how the Gullah Geechee people have responded to rising sea levels, including working to build living shorelines.

Virginia Land Acquisition Plan Addresses Flood Risk

This article, part of the Georgetown Climate Center's Adaptation Policy in Practice series, describes Virginia's "ConserveVirginia" program, which:

combines data-driven mapping, integrated planning processes, and clear funding priorities to address flood risk along with other more familiar land conservation challenges. The map identifies approximately 7.8 million acres of high-value conservation lands across seven categories, one of which is explicitly dedicated to Floodplains and Flooding Resilience. Drawing on historic flooding records, sea level rise projections, and wetland mapping, it identifies 537,995 acres of unprotected Virginia land whose conservation would reduce flood risk across the state.

Importantly, the coastal element of the flood risk assessment “targets upland areas adjacent to existing coastal wetlands where conservation would allow those wetlands to migrate inland as sea levels rise, preserving their long-term flood protection function.”

New Jersey Climate Videos Address Sea Level Rise Topics

The New Jersey Climate Change Research Center at Rutgers University has published a series of videos providing short explanations for climate-related topics, including several aspects of sea level rise:

• What Causes Sea Level Rise?

• Why is Sea Level Rising?

• Sea Level Rise is Accelerating

• Hurricane Impacts on Coasts

• Impacts of Sea Level Rise

• Sea Level Rise and Beaches

• Gulf Stream Impacts on Sea Level Rise in New Jersey